Recent trends in parenting expertise come down to the grosser, the better. Doctors used to tell moms to sterilize pacifiers in boiling water; now a small Swedish study suggests your own saliva will work even better. “Toddlers are less likely to have asthma and itchy rashes if their parents ‘cleaned’ their pacifiers by sucking on them when the kids were infants,” Reuters reports. Lead researcher Dr. Bill Hesselmar hypothesizes that swapping spit with your baby exposes him to good bacteria that boosts immunity, but was quick to point out that results might just show that pacifier-suckers love their children more. “It could be that these parents have more time with their children, a less stressful relationship with their children, hug their children more or whatever,” he told Reuters. You know, the kind of parents who skip diapers in favor of listening to their baby’s “elimination communication.”
